Haiti: the Clintons Take Center Stage

While Hillary Clinton interrupted her tour of the Pacific region in order to coordinate U.S. assistance, her husband Bill, special UN envoy, is actively raising funds.

Never before has the couple so actively rallied for a joint cause. The U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are working in unison to help the Haitian population, after the deadly earthquake that shook the island Tuesday evening.

A rare and significant occurrence, testimony to the importance given by the United States to this disaster, Hillary Clinton cut short her tour of the Pacific and returned to Washington on Thursday to better coordinate U.S. assistance. As early as Wednesday, she spent hours at the U.S. military headquarters in the Pacific conducting phone conversations on the subject of Haiti with her French and Brazilian counterparts, Bernard Kouchner and Carlos Amorim, respectively.

Donations to the Clinton Foundation

On his end, Bill Clinton, who was appointed UN special envoy to Haiti by Secretary

General Ban Ki-moon on May 19th “to help galvanize social and economic reconstruction efforts,” is multiplying calls for financial contributions. On Wednesday, standing in front of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the former U.S. president explained that “even one or two dollars” could help the efforts to provide assistance to the island’s population.

While the UN has not yet officially requested donations, Bill Clinton did not wish to wait, even if that meant showcasing his foundation, created in 1997 to fight disease, poverty and climate change. “We need water and food supplies, shelters and first aid,” he explained, insisting on the urgent nature of the situation. “There is a website, www.clintonfoundation.org/haitiearthquake, which allows you to send money quickly.” This call for help was echoed by many public figures, including American cyclist Lance Armstrong, who on Thursday pledged 250,000 dollars to the Clinton Foundation.

It is Not a Lost Battle

But Bill Clinton did not want to limit his role to donations, even if that means trespassing onto his wife Hillary’s territory. On CNN, the current UN emissary to Haiti thus highlighted the transportation difficulties encountered by rescue teams on roads damaged by the earthquake. “We need more helicopters,” he explained, underlining the fact that the Minustah [the UN mission on the ground in Haiti] only has seven. “We can use them where roads are impassable,” he observed. This request was immediately granted by the United States, who on Wednesday evening sent an aircraft carrier with several helicopters on board.

Bill Clinton also called upon world leaders to “not give up” on Haiti. He pleaded that “it isn’t a lost battle: we can overcome this and it is more important than ever today to grant the people and government of Haiti their wish to become our partners and bring an end to two centuries of tragedy.”